Disabling previous version tab
The Previous versions tab located under the properties of an element under windows vista allow the restore of an item at a later date. It acts as a shadow which is generated by the system for back up.
Moreover this function is very disk space consuming and sometimes useless. Below is a tips of how to disable this function:-
1. Disable shadow
- Go to the menu Start and type services.msc in the search bar and then click OK.
- Double click on the "Volume Shadow"
- Change the startup type to "Manual" (Do not select "Off" as it will switch off System Restore).
- Click on "Stop"
- Go to the tab "Recovery".
- Ensure that the three options "First, second and third failure" are on "Do Nothing".
- Click on "OK" to confirm.
2. Disable the "previous versions"
- Once the service disabled, the "Previous Versions" is useless.
- So to lighten the menu and properties of elements, it is better to remove same as shown below:-
- Before any configuration, make a back of the registry (recommended).
- Open the Registry Editor (Start/run/regedit).
Scroll the key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Policies \ Microsoft \
- Create a new key with the name PreviousVersions (Edit menu> New> Key)
- Create a new DWORD (32bits) under the following key with the name DisableLocalPage (Edit menu> New> DWORD (32 bit)).
- Double click on the value and put 1 in the data fields.